2005 - Harness Tracks of America, Inc.

HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICAExecutive NewsletterA daily fax and e-mail report on racing and gaming developments in North America and beyondPaul J. Estok, Editor March 21, 2005TRIBE HALTS CASINO PLANThe Lytton Band of Pomo Indians said in a letterto Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger dated last Thursdaythat they have shelved plans to build an expandedcasino with 2,500 slot machines in the SanFrancisco Bay area after state lawmakers, whoseapproval for the facility was needed, said it wouldbe too big for the community. An agreementsigned last year between the tribe andSchwarzenegger had envisioned a Las Vegas-stylecasino covering four acres that would have providedlocal and state governments with 25 percentof profits, an estimated $155 million a year. Instead,the tribe will renovate and install hundredsof new games -- but not slot machines -- at its existing70,000-square foot cardroom called CasinoSan Pablo, about 20 miles north of San Francisco.Absent slots, California has no regulatory authorityover the facility and the tribe avoids sharingrevenue.LA. WILL USE PRE-RACE TESTMatt Hegarty in Daily Racing Form reports thatLouisiana will become the latest state to begin preracetesting for milkshakes on March 24. Louisianahad been testing for alkalizing agents usingblood drawn post-race. The director of the LouisianaState University Medication SurveillanceLaboratory, Steve Barker, told the Form that thechange to pre-race testing, considered a more accurateway of determining whether a milkshakehas been administered, was being instituted dueto concerns that horsemen had changed the waymilkshakes were being administered to horses, infeed supplements rather than through nasal-gastrictube.REPORT IS GURAL, SCOTT DEALINGThe Oneida Dispatch is reporting that businessmanand horse owner Jeff Gural and Shawn Scotthave come together in an attempt to bringVernon Downs out of bankruptcy. “Wehad some discussions and I’m hopeful we’llbe able to reach an agreement,” Gural told thepaper. “We’re fairly close.” Gural called theagreement a “four-way settlement” among him,Scott, Raceway Ventures and Vestin Mortgage,which holds $26 million of Mid-State’s debt. Underthe new plan, Scott would be bought out andGural would become the majority shareholder.Negotiations continue regarding how much Scottwill receive and what percentage of the sharesGural will hold. Gural hopes to have the new planfinalized by the end of next week, and he remainsconfident the track will re-open in 2005.NY GAMING IN COURT TODAYToday New York’s highest court will weighwhether the law approving gaming expansion inthe state is constitutional. At issue is the 2001 lawthat approved three Indian casinos in western NewYork, three more in the Catskills, video slot machinesat racetracks, and participation in a multistatelottery. An appellate court has already ruledthe expansion legally sound; as part of its holding,the court said slot machines were permissiblefor Indian casinos in part because of the IndianGaming Regulatory Act, and that the multi-statelottery passed muster because New York maintainsenough control over the game to cover the requirementthat lotteries be “operated by the state.” Inaddition, the court said that video lottery terminalsat racetracks were legal but that the formulafor distributing the proceeds was not. The appealscourt said that the provision in the law that partof the revenue from the machines go to trackpurses and horse breeding violated a New Yorkconstitutional mandate that the proceeds of anylottery game go to education. The New York Senatehas rewritten the formula in an attempt to complywith the constitution and the Assembly has indicatedthat it will draft legislation to “fix” thelegal problem. In the meantime, Gov. GeorgePataki’s attorneys, as well as those from gaminginterests, will argue the law’s legality beforethe high court today.